TABLE OF CONTENTS


Descriptive Summary

Biographical Information

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement of the Papers

Restrictions

Selected Search Terms

Related Material

Administrative Information

Bibliography

Detailed Description of the Collection

Series 1: Myron Bement Smith Collection

Series 2: Antoin Sevruguin Photographs, 1870s - 1930s

Antoin Sevruguin Photographs

A Finding Aid to his Photographs



Descriptive Summary

Repository: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Creator: Sevruguin, Antoin, d. 1933
Title: Antoin Sevruguin Photographs
Dates: 1880s - ca. 1910
Quantity: 2 lin. ft.
Abstract: Antoin Sevruguin (1830s-1933) was an official photographer of the Imperial Court of Iran whose commercial photography studio was one of the most successful in Tehran from the late 1870s to about 1934. The images in this collection provide a rich visual documentation of the Qajar and early Pahlavi dynasties of Iran. The astonishing range of Antoin Sevruguin's photographs, and the prolific output of the studio, provides today's viewer with an important resource for examining the cultural histories and hierarchical elements of Iranian society. They assist the scholar in studying architectural sites that may have been damaged or destroyed, or are unavailable for first-hand investigation. Increasingly, the prints are valued for their artistic elents that may sometimes overshadow their documentary value. Most significantly, Sevruguin's images form part of an ongoing history that links a distant past and place to the present.

Biographical Information

Antoin Sevruguin (late 1830s-1933) operated the most celebrated commercial photography studio in Tehran during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His career coincided with a critical period of modern Iranian history, an era of gradual change, stretching from the reign of Nasir al-din Shah (reigned 1848-1896) to that of Reza Shah Pahlavi (reigned 1925-1941.) His photographs were perhaps the most widely circulated and published in the West.

Commercial studios understood that photography was the optimal tool for marketing the nostalgic pleasures and illusions of the Middle East entertained by Westerners. Sevruguin, as many others had done before and after him, created an image of the Near East for foreign viewers that reinforced certain Orientalist stereotypes. However, as one who lived the majority of his life in Tehran, Antoin Sevruguin also had an ardent affection for Iran and Iranian culture. Rather than being a detached observer, he maintained a personal and informed relationship with the country in which he chose to live and visually portray. His photography served audiences both indigenous and Western.

Sevruguin, an Armenian Christian of Russian descent, was born during the late 1830s (precise date unknown) at the Russian embassy in Tehran. His father, Vassil de Sevruguin, a diplomat with the Russian embassy in Tehran, married Achin Khanoum, and together they had seven children - four boys (Ivan, Antoin, Kolia, and Emanuel) and three girls (names unknown.) Following Vassil de Sevruguin's untimely death from a horse riding accident, his wife moved to her hometown of T'bilisi, the capital of modern-day Georgia. Financial circumstances then forced the family to move to the provincial town of Akoulis, where the brothers attended school. After graduation, Antoin returned to T'bilisi and took up painting but soon became fascinated by the new medium of photography. It was there that he worked with the Russian photographer Dimitri Ivanovich Ermakov (1845-1916) and was greatly influenced by the extensive photographs Ermakov took while traveling in Iran, Crimea, Central Asia, and Caucasus.

It was sometime in the 1870s when Sevruguin decided to undertake a photographic survey of the people, landscape, and architecture of Iran and persuaded his brothers Kolia and Emanuel to assist him in the adventure. They embarked by caravan to Azerbaijan and then continued the project in Kurdistan and Luristan. This became the first of many expeditions throughout the land that Sevruguin undertook during his lifetime in his wish to make an exhaustive photographic survey of Iran. Ultimately, the three brothers went to Tehran where, in 1883, they established a photographic studio located on Alaal-dawla Street (Firdawsi Avenue.) Antoin was the artistic heart of the business, while his brothers, especially Emanuel, did the managerial work.

In Tehran Sevruguin married Louise Gourgenian, an Iranian-Armenian and they had seven children - four boys (Sasha, Andr鬠Ivan, and Misha) and three girls (Olga I, Mary, and Olga II.) As the business prospered, Sevruguin's skill in photographic portraiture attracted clients from the elite and earned him a position as one of the official court photographers to Nasir al-din Shah. To keep himself up-to-date on new developments in photography, Sevruguin made yearly trips to Vienna and other European cities to buy cameras and chemically prepared glass plates.

A highlight in Sevruguin's career was an important commission from the German art historian Friedrich Sarre (1865-1945.) Sarre contracted Antoin and his brother Emanuel to organize a major expedition through southern and southwestern Iran, in order to photograph the Achaemenid (ca. 550-331 B.C.) and Sasanian (ca. A.D. 224-651) rock graves and monuments. Unrest among many of the southern tribes dissuaded Sarre from undertaking the dangerous expedition, and it was to Antoin's advantage that he had friendly contacts among the various tribal chieftains, many of whom were his clients. It is likely that Sarre used all of Sevruguin's photographs in, Iranische Felsreliefs (Berlin, 1910), published in collaboration with Ernst Herzfeld. Perhaps due to the contractual agreement, the book did not credit Sevruguin's name, leaving him deeply disappointed that his significant efforts from a complicated and dangerous mission had garnered him to public credit.

Recognition did come, however, at international photographic exhibitions, where Sevruguin received various prizes and medals, including those won in Brussels in 1897 and Paris in 1900. Awarded the Persian Imperial Order - the Lion and the Sun - by Nasir al-din Shah for his service to the royal house, Sevruguin was also conferred the title of khan (prince), and became known as "Antoin-Khan" in Tehran.

Art ruled Sevruguin's life and he was a voracious reader of history, poetry, and literature in Persian, Russian, French, and Armenian. He is described as friendly, lovable, and magnanimous and at festivities would readily recite by heart, in Persian, long passages from Firdawsi's, Shahnamah (Book of Kings.) His friends included courtiers, dervishes, tribal chieftains, intellectuals, and diplomats. As a painter, he also studied traditional Persian painting and admired French Impressionism and Rembrandt's works, working to capture light in his photographs the way Rembrandt did in his paintings.

Internal political tensions between constitutionalists and reactionaries led to civil unrest in Tehran in 1908. Next to Sevruguin's photographic studio lived Zahir al-dawla, the governor or Rasht, who was a staunch constitutionalist. Because of him, the entire street was plundered by soldiers of the shah, and Zahir al-dawla's house was bombed. The bombings and pillaging heavily damaged Sevruguin's collection of photographs. Of the more than 7,000 glass plates, only 2,000 could later be reassembled and restored. During the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi, the family suffered a second financial blow. In efforts to modernize his country, the shah ordered the confiscation of the remaining 2,000 glass plates of Sevruguin's photograph collection which he believed represented "old-fashioned" Iran. This brought an end to the once prominent photographic enterprise.

In 1933, in his late nineties, Antoin Sevruguin died from a kidney infection. He is buried in the family tomb in Tehran.

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Scope and Content Note

Antoin Sevruguin (d. 1934) was an official photographer of the Imperial Court of Iran, whose commercial photography studio was one of the most successful in Tehran from the 1860s to the 1920s. His photographs document Iran, Iranian culture, Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and Luristan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives is the repository for 866 Sevruguin photographs. These photographs are found within two collections, the Myron Bement Smith Collection and Antoin Sevruguin Photographs.

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Arrangement of the Papers

This assembly of Sevruguin photographs from two different collections in the Archives is divided into two series according to the originating collection: 1. Myron Bement Smith Collection and 2. Antoin Sevruguin photographs. Series 1 contains modern prints from negatives and gelatin silver print found in the Myron Bement Smith Collection and series 2 contains eighteen unmounted albumen prints from Antoin Sevruguin Photographs.

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Access is by appointment only, Monday through Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Please contact the Archives to make an appointment.

Restrictions on Use

There are no restrictions on use.

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Related Material

Other collections housed in the archives documenting Islamic monuments include: the Ambassador Richard B. Parker Photographs of Islamic Monuments (please click here) , and the Lionel Bier Architectural Drawings.

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Selected Search Terms

Names:

Ahmad Nadim Qasmi, 1916-
Bisno, Jay A.
Muzaffar al-Din Shah, Shah of Iran, 1853-1907
Nasir al-Din Shah, Shah of Iran, 1831-1896
Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, 1878-1944
Sevruguin, Antoin, d. 1933
Smith, Myron Bement, 1897-1970
Zahir al-Dawlah, `Ali Khan Qajar, 1864-1924

Organizations:

Committee for Islamic Culture

Subjects:

Agricultural laborers
Archaeology - Iran
Architecture, Islamic
Armenians
Bahais
Bazaars (Markets)
Birds
Caravansaries
Catholics
Courts and courtiers
Culture - Iran
Dervishes
Ethnology - Iran
Executions - Iran
Hermaphroditism
Hookahs
Hunting
Iran
Iran - Kings and rulers
Iran History Qajar dynasty, 1794-1925
Isfahan
Iwans
Jews
Kurds
Minarets
Mosques
Palaces
Persepolis (Iran)
Photography of women
Rites and ceremonies
Shrines
Soldiers
Sports
Tehran (Iran)
Wrestling - Iran - History
Zoroastrians

Document Types:

Albumen prints
Photographs
Silver gelatin prints

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Administrative Information

Alternate Format

Microform of the Photographs of Antoin Sevruguin is available for purchase through IDC Publishers.

Preferred Citation

To cite images in Series 1, Myron Bement Smith Collection, please use:

Myron Bement Smith Collection. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Katharine Dennis Smith, 1973-1985. Photographer: Antoin Sevruguin, negative number [when appropriate.]

To cite images in Series 2, Antoin Sevruguin Photographs, please use:

Antoin Sevruguin Photographs. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Jay Bisno.

Provenance

The wife of Myron Bement Smith, Katharine Dennis Smith, donated her husband's papers to the Smithsonian Institution in 1972. The collection was housed in the National Museum of Natural History. Ms. Smith granted partial rights of the materials to the Institution in 1973 and full rights, interests, and title in 1985. The collection was transferred to the Freer Gallery in 1977.

Jay A. Bisno donated the eighteen unmounted albumen prints represented in the collection, Antoin Sevruguin Photographs in 1985. Mr. Bisno purchased the prints from a shop in the Old City of Jerusalem in 1969.

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Bibliography

Bohrer, F.N. (1999). Sevruguin and the Persian image: Photographs of Iran, 1870-1930. Washington, D.C.: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution and Seattle: University of Washington Press.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Series 1: Myron Bement Smith Collection
Series 1 is formed by the Antoin Sevruguin photographs found in the Myron Bement Smith Collection, also housed in the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Series 1 is divided into three subseries.
Biographical information
American Myron Bement Smith (1897-1970), born in Newark Valley, New York, had a forty year career as a classical archaeologist, architect, and art historian. After graduating from Yale University in 1926, he was awarded a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in 1927-1928 for the study of Italian medieval brickwork. A research fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies enabled him to spend four years (1933-1937) in Iran directing his own expedition for the study of Islamic architecture, in particular the Masjid-i D'Juma at Isfahan, and established his life-long devotion to West Asia.
In 1938, following his return from Iran, Smith began a 30 year association with the Library of Congress as Honorary Consultant. He played a prominent role in the establishment of the Near Eastern Section of the Library of Congress.
As early as 1929, Smith sounded out scholars and administrators regarding the feasibility of establishing a central depository for material dealing with historic architecture available to all scholars. After his return from Iran in 1937, he was concerned with the problem of finding a location where he could store and work with his large collection of photographs and negatives (900 from Italy and 11,000 from Iran), drawings, maps, and other forms of documentation. In 1938 the Library of Congress agreed to provide Smith with two rooms and facilities for making photographic prints, where he retained his accumulating collections until 1956.
In 1939 Smith drafted a program for an Archive for Islamic Culture and Art which the American Council of Learned Societies adopted in 1941.
According to the official minutes, the Committee for Islamic Culture purchased 696 glass plates of Antoin Sevruguin from the American Presbyterian Mission in Tehran during fiscal year 1951-1952 . (Official minutes of the Committee for Islamic Culture, 1952 November 17. Myron Bement Smith Collection. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Katharine Dennis Smith, 1973-1985) News of their sale by the mission apparently came through T. Cuyler Young, then serving on special appointment at the American Embassy in Tehran. According to record, Sevruguin's heiress gave these plates to the mission with instruction to sell them for the benefit of the mission. When Antoin Sevruguin retired about 1930, it was his daughters who continued to run the studio until at least 1937. (Letter, unsigned typescript, 1937 January 26, Katharine Dennis Smith to Mrs. [Richard T.] Merrick, Myron Bement Smith Collection] It was probably Sevruguin's daughter Mary who recovered some of the glass plate negatives, perhaps through the friendship between her and her husband, James Badui, and the crown prince who later became the last shah of Iran, Muhammad Reza Shah (reigned 1941-1979.)
Subseries 1.1 - Myron Bement Smith Collection - Modern prints from photonegatives
During the 1980s the Freer Gallery produced modern contact prints from Antoin Sevruguin photonegatives in the Myron Bement Smith Collection for reference purposes. In some cases, the size was altered and exterior edges of images were cropped in the resulting print. As the negatives were not in any recognizable original order, the archivist imposed a subject arrangement to enhance user accessibility.
Handwritten identifications recorded on scraps of paper were housed with nearly 300 photonegatives in this collection. Those identifications are transcribed in the following container listing as captions. The captions retain the original spelling on the original recording as closely as possible.
The collection contains 689 negatives, mostly gelatin dry plates, some collodian wet plates, and a few cut films. These measure from 9 x 11 cm. to 18 x 24 cm. and may exhibit structural damage in the form of broken or cracked supports. The Freer Gallery artificially assigned a negative number to each image in this series for identification purposes.
The materials in this subseries are arranged according to the following subject arrangement:
Subject arrangement:
Royalty – Courtiers and courts.
Royalty – Residences.
Royalty – Thrones, crowns, celestial globes.
Royalty – Carriages and horses.
Royalty – camps.
People – Foreign royalty, diplomatic and consular service.
People – Military – Officers and soldiers.
People – Portraits.
People – Religious.
People – Daily activities.
People – Sports.
People – Performing arts.
People – Rites and ceremonies.
People – Executions.
Birds
Architecture – Pre-Islamic.
Architecture – Qajar – Rock reliefs.
Architecture – Fortress and Tower of Silence.
Architecture – Bridges.
Architecture – City gates.
Architecture – Caravansarais.
Architecture – Buildings.
Architecture – Triumphal arches.
Architecture – Street scenes, parks and gardens.
Architecture – Mosques, shrines, and tombs.
Architecture – Yazd-i Khast.
Architecture – Townscapes and villages.
Landscapes.
Industrial.
Arts – Carpets.
Arts – Ceramics.
Arts – Figurines and incense burners.
Arts – Ivories.
Arts – Paintings.
Arts – Prints and drawings.
Subseries 1.1.1: Royalty - Shahs, [1870s - 1896]
Box Folder
Fath Ali Shah, [1870s - 1930s] 1 1
View Image
Negative number 49.2 (742)
Caption: Fath Ali Shah
Note: See also Box 4, Folder 1
Subseries 1.1.2: Royalty - Shahs - Nasir al-din Shah, [1870s - 1896]
Box Folder
Mohammad Shah, [1870s-1930s] 1 1
View Image
Negative number 49.4 (209)
Caption: Mohammad Shah
Nasir al-din Shah in front of the Peacock Throne, ca. 1880 1 2
View Image
Negative number 31.1 (584)
Caption: Nasr-i Din Shah
Note: See also Box 1 (Sevruguin), Folder 1
Nasir al-din Shah standing outdoors, [1870s-1896] 1 2
View Image
Negative number 51.8
Caption: None
Barber dyeing Nasir al-din Shah's Mustache, ca. 1890 1 2
View Image
Negative number 47.11
Caption: Dentist of Nasir al-din Shah
Nasir al-din Shah examining decorative objects with his attendants in the Gulistan Palace, ca. 1890 1 2
View Image
Negative number 51.5 (1151)
Caption: Nasr-i Din Shah
Note: Negative numbers 15.3 (Box 1 Folder 11), 54.5 (Box 1 Folder 11), 15.9 (Box 1 Folder 15), 17.6 (Box 1 Folder 11), 61.4 (Box 1 Folder 11), 3.6 (Box 1, Folder 2) also record events on the same day.
Nasir al-din Shah seated with back to mirror in Gulistan Palace, ca. 1890 1 2
View Image
Negative number 3.6
Caption: None
Note: Negative numbers 15.3 (Box 1 Folder 11), 54.5 (Box 1 Folder 11), 15.9 (Box 1 Folder 15), 17.6 (Box 1 Folder 11), 61.4 (Box 1 Folder 11), and 51.5 (Box 1 Folder 2) record events on the same day.
Nasir al-din Shah, probably receiving report in Gulistan Palace, [1870s - 1896] 1 2
View Image
Negative number 51.12
Caption: Nasr Din Shah and member of court
Note: Same room appears in negative 55.2 (Box 1 Folder 11) and same day depicted in negative 58.9 (Box 1 Folder 9.)
Nasir al-din Shah receiving report in Gulistan Palace, [1870s - 1896] 1 2
View Image
Negative number 13.03 (1191)
Caption: Nasr Dinshah firman
Nasir al-din Shah, Kamran Mirza on right, Amin alsultan on left, [1870s - 1896] 1 2
View Image
Negative number 51.6 (109?)
Caption: None
Nasir al-din Shah supervising a banquet for Ashpazan, [1870s - 1896] 1 2
View Image
Negative number 17.2
Caption: None
Note: Same event depicted in negative numbers 60.10 (Box 1 Folder 10) and 57.5 (Box 1 Folder 10.)
Nasir al-din Shah and court, [1870s - 1896] 1 2
View Image
Negative number 19.1
Caption: Nasr al Din Shah and court
Nasir al-din Shah and ministers, [1870s - 1896] 1 3
View Image
Negative number 58.9 (1147)
Caption: Nasr Din Shah and ministers
Nasir al-din Shah in village, [1870s - 1896] 1 3
View Image
Negative number 32.6 (637)
Caption: None
Nasir al-din Shah and court, [1870s - 1930s] 1 3
View Image
Negative number 51.13
Caption: Nasr din Shah and court at Abshar.
Note: Same event pictured in negative 13.01 (Box 1 Folder 3) and 55.1 (Box 1 Folder 3.)
Nasir al-din Shah at Abshar-Shimran, [1870s - 1896] 1 3
View Image
Negative number 13.01
Caption: Nasr Din Shah at Abshar-Shimran
Note: Probably the same event depicted in negatives 51.13 and 55.1 (Box 1 Folder 3.)
Nasir al-din Shah in his later years, being red to near Lar River, [1870s - 1896] 1 3
View Image
Negative number 55.1
Caption: None
Note: Probably same trip depicted in negative numbers 51.13 and 13.01 (Box 1 Folder 3.)
Nasir al-din Shah, Malijak(?) holding a gun, [1870s - 1896] 1 3
View Image
Negative number 42.8
Caption: Nasri Din hunting
Nasir al-din Shah and his eunuchs, with hand on head of Agha Muhammad Khan Khaja, [1870s - 1896] 1 3
View Image
Negative number 51.2 (928)
Caption: Nasr din Shah and attendants
Nasir al-din Shah, his son to his right at statue of Nasr ud din Shah, [1870s - 1896] 1 3
View Image
Negative number 48.3
Caption: Statue of Nasr ud din Shah
Nasir al-din Shah (under umbrella on black horse) with his cavalry, on expedition to Lar, [1870s - 1896] 1 3
View Image
Negative number 14.10
Caption: None
Subseries 1.1.3: Royalty - Shahs - Nasir al din Shah - Family, [1870s - 1930s]
Box Folder
Grandfather of Nasir al-din Shah, 1870s - 1930s 1 4
View Image
Negative number 51.16
Caption: Abbas Mirza
Note: Photograph of art work.
Nasir al-din Shah's mother, 1870s - 1930s 1 4
View Image
Negative number 43.8
Caption: Mother of Nasr-i Din Shah
Nasir al-din Shah's daughter, Aghdas, 1870s - 1930s 1 4
View Image
Negative number 47.12 (229)
Caption: Daughter of Nasr Din Shah
Kamran Mirza, Nasir al -din Shah's son, 1870s - 1930s 1 4
View Image
Negative number 0.4 (113)
Caption: None
Subseries 1.1.4 - Royalty - Shahs - Muzaffar al-din Shah, [1870s - 1930s]
Box Folder
Muzaffar al-din Shah in his younger days, [1870s - 1930s] 1 5
View Image
Negative number 51.7
Caption: None
Muzaffar al-din Shah after coronation, 1897 1 5
View Image
Negative number 51.14 (1075)
Caption: None
Muzaffar al-din Shah, 1870s - 1930s 1 5
View Image
Negative number 49.7 (235)
Caption: Muzaffari Din Shah
Muzaffar al-din Shah in Gulistan Palace, 1870s - 1930s 1 5
View Image
Negative number 51.9
Caption: None
Muzaffar al-din Shah in maydan-i Mashgh, 1870s - 1930s 1 5
View Image
Negative number 16.7
Caption: Nasr ed Din and court
Subseries 1.1.5: Royalty - Shahs - Muhammad Ali Shah Qajar, [1870s - 1930s]
Box Folder
Half-length portrait of Muhammad Ali Shah Qajar, [1870s - 1930s] 1 6
View Image
Negative number 51.15
Caption: None
Prince Abu'lfath Mizar salar al-dawla, brother of Muhammad Ali Shah, [1870s - 1930s] 1 6
View Image
Negative number 36.11 (69)
Caption: None
Salar al-dawla with guardsmen, [1870s - 1930s] 1 6
View Image
Negative number 46.13 (774)
Caption: Sardar Asad (?) and his Baktiari guard
Subseries 1.1.6: Royalty - Shahs - Ahmad Shah Qajar (reigned 1909-1925), [1870s - 1930s]
Box Folder
Ahmad Shah Qajar, approximately age 12, [1870s - 1930s] 1 7
View Image
Negative number 44.8
Caption: None
Subseries 1.1.7: Royalty - Shahs - Reza Shah Pahlavi, [1870s - 1930s]
Box Folder
Reza Shah Pahlavi, portrayed while minister of War, [1921-1925?] 1 8
View Image
Negative number 48.12
Caption: None
Reza Shah Pahlavi, [1870s - 1930s] 1 8
View Image
Negative number 26.1
Caption: Reza Pahalvi and the Russian Ambassador
Reza Shah Pahlavi on a horse while Minister of War, [1921-1925?] 1 8
View Image
Negative number 27.8
Caption: Riza on horse
Iranian ministers, [1870s - 1930s] 1 8
View Image
Negative number 27.7
Caption: Commercial Treaty Iranian Ministers
Subseries 1.1.8: Royalty - Courtiers and courts, [1870s - 1930s]
Box Folder
Mirza Ibrahim Ghafari - "muawin al-dawla" (helper of the state), [1870s - 1930s] 1 9
View Image
Negative number 53.5
Caption: Iranian Minister
Vazir of Nasir al-din Shah, [1870s - 1930s] 1 9
View Image
Negative number 41.13 (763)
Caption: Vazir of Nasr Din Shah
Note: May have erroneously been identified as prime minister Mirza Taqi Kahn, the Amier-i-kabir.
Zahir al-dawla, [1870s - 1930s] 1 9
View Image
Negative number 49.3 (675)
Caption: Zair-I Dowlah
Note: Zahir al-dawla, son-in-law and master of ceremonies of Nasir al-din Shah.
See also Box 4, Folder 1.
Mirza Yusuf Ashtiyani, the mustawfi al-mammalik, ca. 1880s 1 9
View Image
Negative number 41.2
Caption: Mustofiyi Mamalik
Note: Copy of art work
See also Box 4, Folder 1.
Majd al-dawla, [1870s - 1930s] 1 9
View Image
Negative number 26.14 (878)
Caption: Iranian Minister
Mushir al-dawla, [1870s - 1930s] 1 9
View Image
Negative number 22.4
Caption: None.
Note: Mushir al-dawla, Husayn Khan (later sipahsalar)
Government minister, [1870s - 1930s] 1 9
View Image
Negative number 52.2
Caption: Government minister
Court ministers, [1870s - 1896] 1 9
View Image
Negative number 58.8 (246)
Caption: Ministers of court
Note: Nasir al-din Shah era. Amin al-sultan seated fourth from right.
Same day depicted in negative number 51.6 (Box 1 Folder 2.)
Court of Mohammad Shah, [1870s - 1896] 1 9
View Image
Negative number 54.7
Caption: Court of Mohammad Shah
Note: Nasir al-din Shah era. Copy of photograph.
Court of Nasir al-din Shah, [1870s - 1896] 1 9
View Image
Negative number 54.9 (1113)
Caption: Court of Nasr Din Shah
Note: Ceremony [New Year salam?]. Also depicted in negative numbers 15.2 (Box 1 Folder 9), 51.3 (Box 1 Folder 9), 51.10 (Box 1 Folder 11), and 51.4 (Box 1 Folder 11.)
Ceremony, [1870s - 1896] 1 9
View Image
Negative number 15.2
Caption: None
Note: Man on right in turban and with medals is Zahir al-dawla, master of ceremony.
Same ceremony [New Year salam?] depicted in negative numberss 54.9 (Box 1 Folder 9); 51.3 (Box 1 Folder 9), 51.10 (Box 1 Folder 11) , and 51.4 (Box 1 Folder 11).
Ceremony, [1870s - 1930s] 1 10
View Image
Negative number 51.3
Caption: None
Note: Same ceremony as 54.9 (Box 1 Folder 9), 15.2 (Box 1 Folder 9), 51.10 (Box 1 Folder 11), and 51.4 (Box 1 Folder 11.)
Procession of men in garden, [1870s - 1930s] 2 1
View Image
Negative number 16.9
Caption: None
Ceremony, [1870s - 1930s] 1 10
View Image
Negative number 24.9a (1131)
Caption: Outdoor ceremony
Banquet scene, [1870s - 1930s] 1 10
View Image
Negative number 58.3 (1163)
Caption: Celebration in Gulestan Palace
Same even depicted in negative numbers 60.9 (Box 1 Folder 10) and 24.8 (Box 1 Folder 10.)
Banquet at Gulistan Palace, [1870s - 1930s] 1 10
View Image
Negative number 60.9
Caption: None
Note: Same event depicted in negative numbers 58.3 (Box 1 Folder 10) and 24.8 (Box 1 Folder 10.)
Row of seated men in Gulistan Palace complex, [1870s - 1930s] 1 10
View Image
Negative number 24.8 (1002)
Caption: None
Note: Same event depicted in negative numbers 60.9 (Box 1 Folder 10) and 58.3 (Box 1 Folder 10.)
Banquet, [1870s - 1930s] 1 10
View Image
Negative number 24.7 (1121)
Caption: Men at banquet
Note: From right to left: Mirza Tahir, the mustawfi bashir al-mulk (the one who sees for the state); Ahmad Mirza, the abud al-dawla (the strong right arm of the state); Mohammad Taqi Mirza, the rukn al-dawla (supporter of the state); Abbas Mirza Malek Ara; Abd al-Samad Mirza, the izz al-dawla (glory of the state); Shahzada the omid al-dawla (pillar of the state.)
Table, [1870s - 1930s] 1 10
View Image
Negative number 58.6
Caption: Loaded table
Men before banquet table, [1870s - 1930s] 1 10
View Image
Negative number 16.8 (1029)
Caption: None
Ashpazan ceremony, [1870s - 1930s] 1 10
View Image
Negative number 57.5 (999)
Caption: A Dinner Party
Note:Amin al-sultan can be seen at head of left row of seated men, looking into the camera.
Same event depicted in negatives 60.10 (Box 1 Folder 10) and 17.2 (Box 1 Folder 2.)
Aspazan ceremony banquet, [1870s - 1930s] 1 10
View Image
Negative number 60.10
Caption: None
Note: Same event depicted in negative 57.5 (Box 1 Folder 10) and 17.2 (Box 1 Folder 2.)
Game, [1870s - 1896] 1 10
View Image
Negative number 43.7 (433)
Caption: Game of Nasr ed din Shah
Note: Boy [Malijak?] posing with a stuffed leopard, an ibex, a deer, and a gazelle.
Subseries 1.1.9: Royalty - Residences - Gulistan Palace (Tehran), [1870s - 1930s]
Box Folder
Interior of Gulistan Palace, audience hall, [1870s - 1930s] 1 11
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Negative number 57.6 (1098)
Caption: Gulistan Palace
Throne room of Gulistan Palace with Takhta tavus (Peacock Throne) at the Buyutat, [1870s - 1930s] 1 11
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Negative number 15.3
Caption: None
Note: Same day depicted in negative numbers 54.5 (Box 1 Folder 11), 17.6 (Box 1 Folder 11), 61.4 (Box 1 Folder 11), 15.9 (Box 1 Folder 15), 51.5 (Box 1 Folder 2), and 3.6 (Box 1 Folder 2.)
Throne room of Gulistan Palace, [1870s - 1930s] 1 11
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Negative numbers 54.5 (991)
Caption: Gulistan Palace
Note: See also negative 15.3 (Box 1 Folder 11), 15.9 (Box 1 Folder 15) , 51.5 (Box 1 Folder 2), 61.4 (Box 1 Folder 11), and 3.6 (Box 1 Folder 2.)
Throne room of Gulistan Palace, [1870s - 1930s] 1 11
View Image
Negative number 17.6
Caption: None
Note: See also negative numbers 15.3 (Box 1 Folder 11), 54.5 (Box 1 Folder 11), 15.9 (Box 1 Folder 15), 51.5 (Box 1 Folder 2), 61.4 (Box 1 Folder 11), and 3.6 (Box 1 Folder 2.)
Throne room of Gulistan Palace, [1870s - 1930s] 1 11
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Negative number 61.4.
Caption: Gulistan Palace, reception room
Note: See also negative 15.3 (Box 1 Folder 11), 54.5 (Box 1 Folder 11), 15.9 (Box 1 Folder 15), 17.6 (Box 1 Folder 11), 51.5 (Box 1 Folder 2) , and 3.6 (Box 1 Folder 2.)
Salon and thrones at Gulistan Palace, [1870s - 1930s] 1 11
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Negative number 49.6 (798)
Caption: Salon and thrones at Gulistan Palace
Note: See also box 5, folder 11.
Gulistan Palace room interior, [1870s - 1930s] 1 11
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Negative number 55.2 (1040)
Caption: Gulistan Palace
Note: Same room depicted in negative 51.12 (Box 1 Folder 2.)
Gulistan Palace, [1870s - 1930s] 1 11
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Negative number 51.10 (1011)
Caption: Gulestan, opposite side of reception marble throne
Note:Same event depicted in negative numbers 51.4 (Box 1 Folder 9), 28.1 (Box 1 Folder 11), 54.9 (Box 1 Folder 9), 15.2 (Box 1 Folder 9), and 51.3 (Box 1 Folder 9.)
Reception at Gulistan Palace, [1870s - 1930s] 1 11
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Negative number 51.4
Caption: None
Note: Same event depicted in negative numbers 51.10 (Box 1 Folder 11), 15.2 (Box 1 Folder 9), 54.9 (Box 1 Folder 9), 28.1 (Box 1 Folder 11), and 51.3 (Box 1 Folder 9.)
Reception at Gulistan Palace, [1870s - 1930s] 1 11
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Negative number 28.1 (53)
Caption: Reception at Gulestan
Note: Same event depicted in negative numbers 51.10 (Box 1 Folder 11), 15.2 (Box 1 Folder 9), 54.9 (Box 1 Folder 9), 51.4 (Box 1 Folder 11), and 51.3 (Box 1 Folder 9.)
Imarat-i badgir (Tower of the Winds), [1870s - 1930s] 1 11
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Negative number 29.11 (253)
Caption: None
Note: Part of the Gulistan Palace complex.
Note: See also Box 5 Folder 11
Part of Gulistan Palace complex, [1870s - 1930s] 1 11
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Negative number 28.2 (122)
Caption: Dari Ahmasi
Note: See also box 5, folder 11.
Portion of Gulistan Palace complex, [1870s - 1930s]. 1 11
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Negative number 56.4
Caption: None
Gulistan Palace [?], [1870s - 1930s] 1 11
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Negative number 35.6
Caption: Bagh-i Atabeg
Subseries 1.1.10: Royalty - Residences - Identified, [1870s - 1930s]
Box Folder
Shahristanak, Nasir al-din Shah's royal summer villa noth of Tehran, [1870s - 1930s] 1 12
View Image
Negative number 25.1
Caption: None
Note: Rear view seen from above.
Shahristanak, [1870s - 1930s] 1 12
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Negative number 18.4 (1218)
Caption: None
Note: View from above.
Shahristanak, [1870s - 1930s] 1 12
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Negative number 54.8
Caption: Shimran, royal summer house
Note: Front view.
Nasir al-din Shah's royal pavilion, [1870s - 1930s] 1 12
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Negative number 47.8
Caption: Royal villa at Cherestanek, north of Tehran
Note: Called the tower (built 1848), at the port of Anzali (later called Bandar Pahlavi) in Gilan overlooking the Caspian Sea.
Baghi-i firdaws, [1870s - 1930s] 1 12
View Image
Negative number 58.2
Caption: Shimran, Bagh-i Ferdous
Nasir al-din Shah's royal summer villa in north Tehran (Shimran) and residence of the Shah's cousin.
Note: See also negative number 20.184 box 3 folder 6.
Bagh-i Ferdows underground room [1870s - 1930s] 1 12
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Negative number 39.2b (632)
Caption: Bagh-i Ferdows underground room
Baghi Shah in Tehran, [1870s - 1930s] 1 12
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Negative number 44.2 (446)
Caption: Baghi Shah in Tehran
Wrought iron bridge and equestrian statue of Baghi Shah, [1870s - 1930s] 1 12
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Negative number 46.11 (291)
Caption:Wrought iron bridge and equestrian statue of Baghi Shah
Atabak's (Amin al-sultan) residence, [1870s - 1930s] 1 12
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Negative number 42.10
Caption: Royal summer house in Shimran
Royal summer house, [1870s - 1930s] 1 12
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Negative number 54.6
Caption: Royal summer house, Shimran
Huzkhana, Saltanatabad, [1870s - 1930s] 2 13
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Negative number 48.11
Caption: Bagh-i Ferdous above Tajrish
Note: Nasir al-din Shah's royal summer villa north of Tehran. Built by 1882.
Saltanatabad, [1870s - 1930s] 1 13
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Negative number 46.7
Caption: Saltanatabad
Abdarkhana and horloge of Saltanatabad, [1870s - 1930s] 1 13
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Negative number 23.6 (1127)
Caption: None
Ishratabad Palace near Tehran, [1870s - 1930s] 1 13
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Negative number 60.8
Caption: None
"Forty Columns" Chihil Sutun Palace at Isfahan, [1870s - 1930s] 1 13
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Negative number 28.4
Caption: None
Note: Exterior view. Completed in 1647 for Shah Abbas II.
View from talar, [1870s - 1930s] 1 13
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Negative number 35.5 (899)
Caption: Cihil Sutun Palace, Isfahan
Ayinakhana (Hall of Mirrors), [1870s - 1930s] 1 13
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Negative number 29.12 (182)
Caption: Cihil Sutun
Note: Rear view of building. See also negative 40.6 (Box 1 Folder 13).
Ayinakhana (Hall of Mirrors), [1870s - 1930s] 1 13
View Image
Negative number 40.6 (182)
Caption: Cihil Sutun Palace, Isfahan
Note: Rear view of building.
See also negative number 29.12 (Box 1 Folder 13.)
Subseries 1.1.11: Royalty - Residences - Unidentified, [1870s - 1930s]
Box Folder
Palace villa, [1870s - 1930s] 1 14
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Negative number 22.5
Caption: None
Villa and water fountain, [1870s - 1930s] 1 14
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Negative number 56.9
Caption: None
View from villa, looking towards water fountain, [1870s - 1930s] 1 14
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Negative number 19.9
Caption: None
Note: Same villa depicted in negative 56.9.
Subseries 1.1.12: Royalty - Thrones, crowns, celestial globes, [1870s - 1930s]
Box Folder
Takhta tavus (Peacock Throne) in Gulistan Palace, [1870s - 1930s] 1 15
View Image
Negative number 35.11 (303)
Caption: None
Takhta tavus (Peacock Throne) in Gulistan Palace, [1870s - 1930s] 1 15
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Negative number 37.10 (637)
Caption: Peacock Throne
Takhta tavus (Peacock Throne) in Gulistan Palace, [1870s - 1930s] 1 15
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Negative number 15.9 (943)
Caption: None
Note: Negative numbers 15.3 (Box 1 Folder 11), 54.5 (Box 1 Folder 11), 17.6 (Box 1 Folder 11), 3.6 (Box 1 Folder 2), and 57.5 (Box 1 Folder 10) record events on the same day.
Nadiri throne in Gulistan Palace, [1870s - 1930s] 1 15
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Negative number 33.8 (258)
Caption: Summer Residence
Headpiece worn by the Shah at Nawruz, [1870s - 1930s] 1 15
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Negative number 49.1 (268)
Caption: Taq-i Kujani
Jewel encrusted globe [celestial?], [1870s - 1930s] 1 15
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Negative number 51.11
Caption: None
Subseries 1.1.13: Royalty - Carriages and horses, [1870s - 1930s]
Box Folder
Horse and driver with an open carriage, [1870s - 1930s] 1 16
View Image
Negative number 20.03
Caption: Droshka
Men and horses pulling a carriage, [1870s - 1930s] 1 16
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Negative number 50.6 (982)
Caption: None
Men standing before a carriage, [1870s - 1930s] 1 16
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Negative number 61.7
Caption: Landau of Nasr Din Shah
Horse and attendants [royal horse?], [1870s - 1930s] 1 16
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Negative number 59.5
Caption: None
Subseries 1.1.14: Royalty - Camps, [1870s - 1930s]
Box Folder
Royal camp in valley, [1870s - 1930s] 1 17
View Image
Negative number 15.4
Caption: None
Note: Distant view
Hunting camp [?], in Lar Valley near Tehran, [1870s - 1930s] 1 17